Camilo Villegas was incredibly good Thursday at the Northern Trust Open.
Jordan Spieth was incredibly bad.
How bad? Spieth, the world’s No. 1 player is 16 shots behind Villegas after the first 18 holes in Los Angeles.
Let’s say that again — tournament leader Camilo Villegas is 16 shots ahead of Jordan Spieth after day one at the Riviera Country Club.
Villegas, who has missed his last four cuts on the PGA Tour, could do no wrong for 17 holes. He was nine-under for the day, a shot off the course record, going into his final hole of the day, the ninth. There he missed the green wide right but chipped within four feet and after making virtually everything he looked at all day, he missed the short one to finish with an eight-under par 62, his best-ever effort at Riviera.
At the other end of the spectrum, Spieth had eight bogeys and a double at the last hole to finish dead-last in the field.
Spieth had nothing going for him all day. He missed fairways, missed greens and missed putts. Simple as that. He appeared destined to miss the 36-hole cut. “It’s just a day to forget,” he said. “Hopefully it’s just one in a couple of years.”
Villegas had no such troubles. He turbo-charged his round with four straight birdies on his final nine, the front, starting at the fifth hole. He summed up his day simply: “I told my caddie we did everything right today,” he said afterward.
There were plenty of name players in pursuit of Villegas.
Bubba Watson opened with a five-under par 66. “Really good,” is how Watson summed it up. “The course was soft out there today. It was backin’ up,” he said of his iron shots. “I made some putts. I like where I am.”
Rory McIlroy made his U.S. debut a good one with a four-under par 67. He got off to a birdie-birdie start and showed control of his game all day.
The day started with some early rain that softened the greens. Villegas’ effort left him two shots ahead of the winning score last year. It was a positive for the former Florida Gator whose best finish in the event was a 30th.
